Battle off Bermuda
The Battle off Bermuda 'was a major Naval Battle in the Franco-Lavrunarian War between a large task force of the Imperial Lavrunarian Navy and a group of ships of the Fascist French Navy, fought on 11 February 1943. In the battle, the French ships were leaving Bermuda after refueling and rearming. The Lavrunarian task force approached out of a squall from the South and was only spotted by the French when they were about 20 nm away. The French ships quickly formed into two divisions to battle the three divisions of the Lavrunarian task force. The French were able to land hits on the Lavrunarian ships early in the battle, with two destroyers - ''Grygg Horne ''and ''Arnulf Radek ''- blowing up after engaging with the larger French destroyers. However, as the French and Lavrunarian main battle lines closed, the tide began to turn against the French, leading up to the pivotal point of the battle where the French battleship [[NdN François de La Rocque|NdN ''François de La Rocque]],'' focused on engaging the Lavrunarian battleship ''Otokar Geissler, was hit by torpedoes launched from the heavy cruiser Dyonetsk. The French were forced to retire afterwards, ending the battle in a stalemate. Prelude The Lavrunarians, using information from the floatplanes launched by Otokar Geissler ''and ''Atlantis, formed into three divisions: the Main Battle Squadron, Flying Squadron, and Diversionary Squadron. As was typical for Lavrunarian fleet combat, the Main Battle Squadron was composed of the heavier surface forces of the task force, the Flying Squadron was composed of the faster fleet units, and the Diversionary Squadron was composed of the light cruisers and destroyers. The Main Battle Squadron was meant to destroy the enemy, while the Flying Squadron attacked the flanks of the enemy, attempting to force the enemy into a crossfire - so called 'L' tactics. The Diversionary Squadron was meant to draw away some of the destroyers and light cruisers of the enemy, in order to prevent the enemy from splitting his forces and confounding the Lavrunarian battle plans. As the Lavrunarians approached, their order of battle was as follows: '''Main Battle Squadron * Battleship Otokar Geissler * Heavy Cruisers Dyonetsk ''and ''Jarvensynn Flying Squadron * Battlecruiser Atlantis * Heavy Cruisers Ypryenn, Nova ''and ''Parnyu Diversionary Squadron * Light Cruisers Odynse and Holbayek * Destroyers Artur Transat, Henri Rykord, Alexis Guido Hesekiel, Grygg Horne, Loch af Skysil, Kai Adolf, Ensio Jaak Richard, Arnulf Radek, Vadimir Donne and Volodya Piaras Battle Opening moves Minutes after the François de La Rocque ''spotted the plumes of smoke from the Lavrunarian force, Amiral Legrand ordered half of his ''contre-torpilleurs ''to form a 2nd Division behind the light cruiser ''11 Novembre ''in order to battle the Lavrunarian Diversionary Squadron under Vice-Admiral Veikko von Ljungman. The other ''contre-torpilleurs ''stayed to escort the light cruiser ''Concorde ''and the battleship ''François de La Rocque ''as the 1st Division. From this point on, the order of battle for the French was as follows: '''1st Division' * Battleship [[NdN François de La Rocque|NdN François de La Rocque]] * Light Cruiser [[NdN Concorde|NdN Concorde]] * Destroyers [[NdN Aulne|NdN Aulne]], ''Odet'', ''Vienne'' and ''Dive'' 2nd Division * Light Cruiser [[NdN 11 Novembre|NdN 11 Novembre]] * Destroyers [[NdN L'Indestructible|NdN L'Indestructible]], L'Incorruptible, L'Élégant and Le Rapide As the French 2nd Division approached the flying squadron, the leading contre-torpilleurs opened fired with their forward 138mm guns. In particular, the four ships of the ''L'Indestructible ''class focused their fire on the leading Lavrunarian destroyers.